Police shooting: Father of shot son demands justice

LEKOPANYE MOOKETSI
Correspondent | Thursday April 16, 2009 00:00

 

He was shot in full view of his father Sephiri Sephiri. Mothusinyana died on the spot.
Since then the Sephiri family has been awaiting justice but to no avail. 

Mothusinyana's shooting remains unexplained. The only offence he committed, the family is left to reason, was that he happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.

On that day the police, who were investigating a street robbery, confronted Sephiri, who had just emerged from his family yard. 

A distraught Mothusinyana, who was sitting in the same yard where his son was shot, said they have not heard anything from the police since January.   He said the last time they communicated with the police they were told that the case was still under investigation. 

Sephiri said the police gave them P5, 000 for funeral costs.  However, he said, the police made it clear that the donation did not mean that they were accepting responsibility for the shooting.

The grieving parent said after the funeral, senior police officers had never come to brief him on what happened.  The police only took statements from them.

Sephiri cannot come to terms with the death of his son who used to work in Francistown.  He is still shocked by the tragic incident.

'I never expected something like that to happen to my family member.  I will never forget the incident.  It is clear that the person who shot him did not want to disable him.  The intention was to kill him,' he said. 

Sephiri said his son was shot like an animal.

He recalled that on the day that his son was shot, he had earlier told him that he would be returning to Francistown the next day.  Those were to be the last words he shared with his son.

Sephiri said in the evening, Mothusinyana left his twin brother Mothusi, to bid a maternal relative farewell.  That was when he met his untimely death.

The old man said after Mothusinyana was shot, his twin brother knocked on his bedroom door to report what had happened.  He said the police took Mothusinyana to the hospital where he was certified dead.

Sephiri said when he heard the gunshot he just assumed that it was the festival season firecrackers.  He never suspected that his son might have been shot until his twin brother came screaming hysterically. 

The old man said he was shocked by the police action because his son was not a criminal.

In fact, he describes him as a 'gentleman' who did not drink alcohol or smoke. 

He said after the police had shot Mothusinyana, they asked his shocked twin brother whether he recognised him.

The old man said the police told him that they had shot his son and were rushing him to hospital. 

Sephiri said when he arrived at the hospital he found that his son had long died.  He said the police promised to give the family a report but they never came back.

Sephiri said they do not know the officer who shot his son.  He said the officer did not come to apologise. 

However, he said, they want justice to take its course because as far as he is concerned, his son did not deserve to die.  He said the family had sought legal advice on the issue.

Meanwhile, the police officer who shot Mothusinyana is still on duty.  Botswana police's public relations officer (PRO) Assistant Commissioner Chris Mbulawa said they have not suspended the officer because it had not been established whether anyone had been negligent.  'We have not suspended anyone because we are still investigating.'
 He said investigations are still continuing.

Asked why the investigations were taking long, he said every case is unique.  He said investigations do not take long when you are investigating one person. 

Mothusinyana has become part of the statistics of police shootings which have been prevalent recently.  In the past, human rights activists had raised concern that the police were becoming trigger-happy. 

There have been a number of cases in which police have opened fire on alleged robbers.  The police have always insisted that they were returning fire. 

But in the case of Mothusinyana, it has been revealed that he was not armed.  He did not open fire on the police.  His relatives insist that he did not commit any crime in the first place.

The police have subsequently admitted that Mothusinyana may have not been the person they had been looking for.